it's closed, the bay bridge. people are trying to find ways around it. you can see work continues at the toll plaza. we're live in oakland where crews are busy bustling 59 the bay bridge trying to get ready for tuesday's opening. we'll tell you what's been done so far. >> reporter: we're riding b.a.r.t. in from san francisco. the trains are packed. a lot of people are choosing this as an option because of the bay area closure. and many commuters are hopping on a ferry.

team coverage ahead on "mornings on 2." it's often been referred to as the work horse of bay area bridges. but this morning, the bay bridge is closed. you are taking a live look at the toll plaza. that old eastern span will never reopen. good morning. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm claudine wong in for tori campbell. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm dave clark. let's check the weather. the weather will affect this already complicated commute. mark tamayo is in for steve. >> reporter: good morning. a lot of cloud cover out there. i just took a walk outside and saw some breaks in the overcast. we're starting off with partly to mostly cloudy skies. some patchy dense fog. santa clara reporting mostly sunny skies. you can see one of the breaks closer to sfo. there is a closer inspection of the break in the cloud cover. in the south bay, san jose reporting mostly cloudy skies.

we're starting off with some overcast this morning and stepping outside the door right now. temperatures really not a big change. you can see upper 50s to the 60s. novato, 59. hayward, 60. san jose, 64 degrees. here's our cloudy forecast model. we'll take this into the afternoon hours. clouds clear back to the coastline. could lift to scattered showers. more sunshine inland in fair field, concord and livermore. for the beaches, low clouds, even some breaks in the clouds already near parts of the coastline, especially the san mateo coastline and then right around the bay, we're starting off with some overcast. more sunshine. mostly sunny and breezy and then the inland neighborhoods, patchy fog. 85 to right around 90 degrees. forecast highs for today, these numbers about the same as yesterday. no big changes here. santa rosa -- santa rosa, 84 and san jose, 81. livermore in the upper 80s. we'll take a look at your five- day forecast coming up. i will send it back to the desk to begin our coverage of the bay bridge closure. >> and we begin with the long-

awaited trages transition to the bay bridge. the old span is shut down in both directions. the goal, to have it ready to open no later than tuesday morning. we have team coverage. tara moriarty is watching the first phase of this huge bridge project. christien kafton is showing us how the commuters are going the extra mile. but we want to start off with sal cass -- sal castanedo with the commute. sal? >> let's take a look at the traffic. the closure, obviously the purple thing there, that's the closure. if you are driving to the san mateo bridge, it is very slow on 880, as it normally is, and it's slow almost all the way across the bridge out to the peninsula. it will be very slow on 101. however, it is taking the load. there are no major crashes. no major lane obstructions.

you can see it's getting very slow. 101, 92. we checked in with public transportation. b.a.r.t., caltrain and muni reporting no delays right now. at 7:03. we are looking at the commute here on 80 westbound. you can see a lot of people coming down to the closure. there are no major problems but people are finding winding down to three lanes. that's why we have a lot of slow traffic. the south bay commute has been slow in some of the commute. it's not all that bad on 280 and 101. we want to go to tara moriarty who is at the area where they are doing the construction and tara has been monitoring the construction since early this morning. seas right, sal. >> reporter: -- that's right, sal. things have gotten off smoothly. things are going pretty good. it's a little bit slow in parts. we look at the bay bridge toll plaza, where things are really bustling out there.

we have construction obviously workers working around the clock and at people times there will be as many as 400 workers on site. they are in the process of turning up 1.2 million square feet of roadway from the macarthur maze to the new bridge. caltrans shut down the old bridge at 8:00 last night to begin phase one of their transition. >> the closure, it's been pretty much respected. we haven't had people stopping for directions. people are moving along and respecting the lights and all of the cones. >> reporter: now, next crews will be demolishing about 1,000 feet of the old bridge to make room for a temporary bike path approach. connect the new span with barriers and striping and then they will inspect the western span. they will dismantle the old bridge, piece by piece. some of those pieces will be saved for historic purposes. not up of concrete and steel

will be sold as scrap and steel possibly to china. the new span should open at 5:00 a.m. on tuesday morning. caltrans is expected to give us an update on all of this construction and where things stand so we'll let you know. tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. b.a.r.t. is offering expanded service during the five-day bay bridge closure. 14 b.a.r.t. stations will stay open 24 hours. the only exception will be between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on tuesday. that's when all of the trains are gonna stop for required inspections and maintenance. b.a.r.t. will also run longer trains to accommodate more riders. well, ferry riders lined up real early their morning to get a ride to work. now, we're seeing a -- look at that line there. coming up for you at 7:30, what the riders say they've learned from the mad scram scramble during the b.a.r.t. strike. >> when you combine the british british -- combine the

bay bridge closure and the rim fire, labor day is expected to be anything but normal. many people are canceling their plans to tahoe and yosemite because of the fire. an estimated 3.9 people in california will travel 50 miles or more this weekend according to aaa. that's up 6% from last year. we have a special section at ktvu.com dedicated to the closure. 7:07. new this morning, we have power outages to tell you about. a few thousand people here in the bay area have no electricity. we just got off the phone with pg&e. they are reporting power outages right now in san jose and in pittsburg. more than 2600 pg&e customers in santa clara county don't have electricity. there are about 1,000 customers without electricity in pittsburg. we don't know what caused the power outages or when your power will be back on.

the repair crews are working on it right now, we will keep you posted. meantime police in menlo park arrested a 21-year-old man accused of shooting another man and then violently resisting arrest. jaime romero was a booked into the san mateo -- was booked into the san mateo jail on attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. police were called to willow road about 6:00 p.m. yesterday after getting reports of a man with a gun. they found a 24-year-old man who had been shot. he was rushed to the hospital. while trying to arrest romero, a police officer suffered minor injuries. democrats in the state senate have rejected governor brown's plan to ease prison overcrowding. a federal court has ordered the state of california to reduce the prison population by more than 9,000 inmates by the end of the this -- end of this year. governor brown wants to spend $315 million to rent private prison cells in california and

other states. well, darrell steinberg said the governor's plan is a short- term fix. he wants to spend more money on rehab and mental health services instead. the city of concord wants help from the public to stop thieves who steal from recycle bins. the city says people who take cans, plastic and bottles keep the city from reaching state- required recycling goals. the police say the thieves are organized and actually stake out their territories. anyone who sees thieves stealing from trash cans is encouraged to call police. we're gonna continue our coverage of the shutdown of the bay bridge. how the demolition crews will tear down a bridge built in the 1930s. as the white house moves closer to taking military action to syria, what some members of congress are doing in response. >> reporter: we're looking at what the closure is doing to the bay area commutes. some are handling it better

than others. we're almost everywhere looking at these commutes. we'll tell you what's going on. and in weather, we've been tracking low more clouds. they will be part of the forecast for the thursday morning commute. also coming up, the warmest day of the week and the changes you can expect for the upcoming holiday weekend. ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing really good around ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of living off the taste of the air ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ try new fiber one peanut butter protein bars.

good morning. there's just a lot of slow traffic here as you come off the san mateo bridge and heading out to the toll plaza area or past the toll plaza to the peninsula with the connection to highway 101. a lot of people will be taking the -- will be taking b.a.r.t. as a result of the closure. let's go to ktvu's christien kafton riding a b.a.r.t. train. i guess it looks like we lost

christien. back to the desk. bay area congresswoman lofgrab and anna eschew and other members of congress signed a letter sent to president obama. they want him to get their authorization before taking military action against syria. as kyla campbell reports from our washington, d.c. newsroom, dianne feinstein says she's received some intelligence about it. >> reporter: feinstein says she's believes the attack was by the assad regime and is strongly urging the united nations to condemn the regime. that's echoed by many in congress. without a united nations resolution, some argue the u.s. cannot take military action under military law. the resolution should wrap up tomorrow and their findings made public on saturday. this hour, the british government said the legal requirements to strike have been met. david cameron said the evidence that syria used chemical weapons last week is right

before our eyes. the u.s. is upping its military presence in the mediterranean sea off the coast of syria to to prepare for a potential strike. and president assad said his country will defend itself. congressional leaders will get briefed via a phone conference scheduled for 3:00 pacific today. what we're learning about a possible meeting at the white house today. i'm working on that story for 8:15. live in washington, kyla campbell, ktvu channel 2 news. [chanting] >> this is in london. hundreds of protesters outside the prime minister's residence. protesting against british military intervention in syria. prime minister cameron recalled parriment to debate possible military action. many in britain as well as in the british parliament say they don't want repeat of the invasion in iraq which was based on evidence of weapons of mass destruction which later

turned out to be false. in san francisco today, there will be a demonstration against u.s. military action in syria. now, this is set for 5:00 this evening at powell and market street. it's organized by a coalition of anti-war groups. experts warn the latest cyber attacks on the new york times and twitter may signal a more dangerous side of cyber ware war far. the group involved backed assad so any military action against assad could lead to attacks. this morning, the hearing continues in san francisco into what could be one of the biggest america's cup scandals ever. an international panel is investigating allegations involving defending champion, oracle team usa. the team is accused of illegally modifying two boats during the warmups.

the jury has several options if it decides to punish the oracle team including pulling it out of the america's cup but sailing experts say it's highly unlikely. you can now add a multi-million dollar dispute to the many headaches. a former merchandising partner for the sailing event is in the midst of a legal battle with the organizers. the company is going to court claiming race organizers violated a sign involving merchandising rights. it is seeking 4.2 million in damages. 7:16. the co-founder of google reportedly has separated from his wife and reportedly is now dating an employee. 40-year-old has separated from his wife and they've been married six years. they've reportedly been living apart for several months and he's said to be dating a 26- year-old coworker in the google glass division. reportedly they've been

romantically -- reportedly been linked to another google executive. forbes reports that brin is worth almost $23 billion. sam simon says he's been overwhelmed by "for money -- overwhelmed by"requests for money. he's been given six months to live after his diagnosis to cancer. he plans to give his money so some charities. we've been lookingal the closure and obviously all of those cars that use the bridge have to go somewhere. some have been on transit. this slowdown here, partially is because three lanes are

taken up at the hard closure. it will be slow, making richmond slow. not all that bad. people using the richmond bridge -- let me show you on the maps here what's going on trafficwise. you can see the red through berkeley that we showed you, a little bit of red approaching the richmond/san rafael bridge. marin county has not been all that bad driving through to the closure. i would say that the biggest deal here would be the closure of the san mateo -- the alternate route to the san mateo bridge. you can see here, the traffic is going to be slow coming off the span and busy getting out to highway 101 at 92 but not undo-able. we don't want to scare you off. there will be a lot of people doing this compute as well -- commute as well. give yourself extra time as you come out. let's go to mark. we're tracking some fog patches out there. a lot of low clouds out there. but the dense fog that could

impact your visibility could be a factor over the next one, two hours. this is from the camera perspective. as far as the satellite, the clouds are blanketing a good portion of the bay area with mostly cloudy skies up in the north bay for santa rosa and napa and novato, even down towarding the richmond/san rafael bridge. this beginning to break up a little bit or lifting as you can see closer to sfo and the south bay for san jose at last check, their most recent observation, mostly cloudy skies. current temperatures everybody within a narrow range in the upper 50s in half moon bay. 57 degrees and some lower 60s. oakland 63 and san jose, 64. here's the forecast for today -- beginning at 8:00 this morning, some scattered low clouds. we'll gradually strip away to clouds. there's the temperature range, 63 to 90. this area of low pressure is kind of camped up to the north and to the west. not moving too much but we have this -- an area of high

pressure building in. this has been responsible for the warmup. we'll keep things steady for today. the high builds back in. the 80s we're forecasting will turn into lower 90s on friday. tomorrow will be the warmest day of the week and that implies some cooling just in time for the holiday weekend. lake tahoe unfortunately, the smoke will continue to be a factor for today, tomorrow and possibly into saturday and sunday. you can see temperatures for afternoon highs in the upper 70s to the lower 80s. back here in the bay area for today. we're starting off with some overcast this morning. you can see the coastline revealing partly sunny skies for the beaches. more sunshine well inland. temperatures as i mentioned. no major changes. maybe a little bit cooler compared to yesterday's highs. forecast temperatures this afternoon. santa rosa, 84. vacaville at 90. right around the rim of the bay. we're showing the 70s. and back up to the mid- to upper 80s. right around 90 degrees. san jose forecast high of 81 and san francisco the clouds in the morning becoming partly sunny this afternoon.

we'll go with 69 degrees. a look ahead to your five-day forecast as i mentioned tomorrow, the warmest day of the week will shave off a few degrees for saturday. the cooling trend continues for saturday and into labor day. 7:20. a lot of people will be taking b.a.r.t. while the bay bridge is closed down. b.a.r.t. is expanding service for the next five days. ktvu's christien kafton is on a b.a.r.t. train right now, walnut creek. i can see the train moving with you. >> reporter: we're on the b.a.r.t. train heading in from walnut creek into san francisco and we just left the west oakland station heading in. take a look and see how packed this car is at this time. you can see how many extra people have decided that b.a.r.t. is the best option. we have video that we shot earlier to give you a sense of how crowded the trains are. we talked with a lot of regular riders. they've said it's certainly much more crowded now than it usual is. it was standing-room only by the time we got on in walnut creek. the train only stopped a couple

of times by then. certainly carrying a great deal of passengers. we talked with regular riders and with some first-time riders and -- [no audio] >> it's not as crowded, a better chance of getting a seat. >> i knew that i couldn't drive into the city because of the bridge closing so i cook b.a.r.t. >> all right. that was christien kafton riding on a b.a.r.t. train. technically, it's hard to see sometimes. but if you have to board a train, give yourself extra time as well. placing blame for a devastating fire. why some fairfield homeowners say the city is responsible for the fire that destroyed five homes. why environmentalists are fighting a plan to reduce the mice population in the faralana islands.

a san mateo man drowned while paddleboarding in lake tahoe. kenneth campo fell in the water off the park on the nevada side of lake tahoe near the resort town of incline village. reportedly, the paddleboard was equipped with a life jacket and tether but campo did not use them. a public hearing is scheduled in san francisco for a plan to reduce the number of mice in the farrah lon islands. they plan to drop poison. but environmentalists say that poison could contaminate the water which is also home to elephant, seals and great white sharks. officials believe as many as 50,000 mice might be living in the farallon islands. union city police want your help to identify a woman involved in a snake scam. take a look. investigators say she's hispanic between 35, 45. she has a nose ring, ally ring

and her tongue -- a lip ring -- a lip ring. in both cases the woman came to the victims' home with phony story there were dangerous snakes in the home. the homeowners' homes were ran socked while they were distracted. we're live at the alameda main street bay ferry terminal where the lines are getting long and the parking spaces are getting few. we'll tell you how the bay ferries are running this morning. we have a problem on one of the main alternate routes here. an injury crash just pulled out of the lanes but traffic is slowing down east and westbound on 80. you can see in a very bad spot. in weather a big blanket of low clouds, also some patchy fog. we'll show you where the fog is this morning. also the warm day of the week

and the changes you can expect for the weekend. [ male announcer ] at sizzler...

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for an incredible $9.99! welcome back. we're looking at live pictures. there is an accident on the east shore freeway right now. you can see the ambulances on the right side. this could be pretty bad. sal will have all of the details and we're obvious -- the bay bridge is shut down.

we're gonna get the reaction to all of that. stay tuned. good morning. it's a brand-new day. good morning, i'm dave clark. >> i'm claudine wong. tori campbell is off today. our top story, the about bay bridge closure. we want to first go to. >> weather not too bad. we have scattered clouds out there. tomorrow, it will be a little bit warmer, then the weekend the temperatures will be trending down with a sun/cloud mix with saturday, sunday and into labor day. the cloud cover is up to the north bay as we take a closer look. moving the maps to the south, a little break closer to sfo. you get the idea. moreover jast over a good portion of the region, san jose out towards santa clara and milpitas reporting cloud cover as well. current temperatures are, once again, in the upper 50s to the

low to mid-60s beginning to warm up a little bit. mountain view and san jose warming up 2 degrees the past hour. for this morning, coast side, low clouds and drizzle. still some patchy fog into the afternoon hours. right around the bay, we strip the clouds. and then the inland neighborhoods, some patchy overcast this morning. but a nice recovery. 85 to right around 90 degrees. these numbers not a big change from yesterday. you can see the range from the lower 60s in pacifica. we'll have another look in a few minutes. right now back to the desk to continue our coverage of the bay bridge closure. the old span built in the 1930s is shut down now in both directions. the chp says so far the construction work on the new eastern span is right on schedule. we do have team coverage for you this morning. janine de la vega is live at the san mateo bridge. brian flores will tell us how

the ferries are helping commuters across the bay. let's begin with sal castanedo with a look at the commute and some rough spots. >> there are rough spots. we found one on eastbound 880 between ashby and the shoulder. it's a crash in the lanes. it's still there on the right shoulder. traffic is slowing down. westbound 80 traffic is already slow because you come up on the hard closure. the traffic funnels down to about three lanes when normally there are a lot more rains. that's backing traffic up into richmond. someone just asked me what the drive is like. it's a little bit slow on the richmond side but then as you drive through marin, it's not all that bad this morning heading together. i want to look at the maps and show you the traffic on the san mateo bridge approach is going to be one of the slowest commutes we have in the bay area from right about this point hire and making the turn onto the bridge and all the way out to the peninsula. it is going to be slow for you as you drive through. the traffic is also going to be

slow as you get over to highway 101 and 92. and 237 we're looking at traffic here. a lot of people have been avoiding the bridges. the 237 commute is taking a beating right now getting into sunnyvale. so if you are in the lower half of the bay, don't think 237 is an original idea. at this hour, traffic is building on alternate routes that commuters are taking this morning because of the bay bridge closure. janine de la vega has been on the san mateo bridge since 5:00 this morning. how does it look? >> reporter: we're here on the foster city side, right on the decline and the traffic here coming westbound, it's slow. but it is moving. eastbound traffic is zooming right by. no problem there. but you can see the traffic is slowing and all of these commuters are heading into the peninsula and are going to connect to the 101 to head into the city. but i don't see any brake

lights. it still looks good. this is one of the more popular routes because of the closure. i want to take a look at the toll plaza. as you can see, it's heavier than normal. it looks like it's slow. but it's not stop and go just yet. there was an injury crash i'm told in the east bay heading up to the bridge on 880 and 92. that might cause a little delay. just want to remind you it might be a popular route because it cost $5 to cross the san mateo bridge in comparison to taking the richmond, and golden gate bridge, which will cost $11 to get to the city. back out here live, again, traffic moving still slow and the california highway patrol is telling you, you know, give yourself extra time if you still haven't headed out or you may want to see if there's any chance you might be able to work from home. make sure if you do head out,

you have a full tank of gas in case you get tied up in traffic. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. a lot of drivers are leaving the cars behind and riding a ferry. brian flores is live in alameda with the difference the riders are seeing in comparison to the b.a.r.t. strike. >> reporter: good morning. one of the big differences we've seen from the b.a.r.t. strike, you have shorter lines of people riding on ther inries. you have a lot of -- of the ferries. you have a lot of people on the ferries. nothing like the b.a.r.t. strike. but park something a concern -- parking is a concern this morning as the lots are figuring up. i just got off the phone with the spokesman for the ferry. he says things are running smoothly. no delays to speak of. the only small sag, he says, was a 6:30 boat leaving the vallejo terminal maxed out 330 passengers. about ten had to be left behind to catch the next ferry that

left a half-hour later. they will be running 11 boats this morning. tomorrow as well. a normal service would be typically eight ferrys that run. san francisco bray berries are expecting a 15% increase during the closure. we spoke to the riders this morning, talk about the differences from now and from the b.a.r.t. strike and they say they are actually surprised that there isn't a longer line. >> i think it's great that they are closing down and getting the new bridge open. i thought it was gonna be real bad here this morning. this is way good compared to what was the b.a.r.t. strike. it was 100 times worse. >> reporter: larkspur ferry adding more ferries not today or tomorrow. sausalito ferry will have an added service on saturday, sunday and monday. as we take it back here live, several of the passengers on the ferry boat. but again, the major problem

that we're seeing not a make or problem with you a problem -- but a -- not a major problem but a problem, the parking. you probably need to get here before all of the lots are filled. brian flores, ktvu channel 2 news. here's something else for some toll takers, the bridge closure means they won't get paid. ktvu was there as several clocked in for their evening shift. those who are not assigned to other work or who don't take paid leave, they won't be paid during the bridge closure. the toll authority says the new span will come with upgrades to the toll-taking system. however, they are saying there are no current plans to create an all-electric toll system just like the one used on the golden gate bridge. at 11:00 this morning, the news media is going to get a chance to look at the demolition work underway on the old bridge. reporters will get a look at the old span.

crews have a huge job ahead of them, dismantling the bridge built in the 1930s. they can't use dynamite because of safety and environmental rules. the old bay bridge will have to be torn down piece by piece to avoid a collapse. the dreaded s-curve will be torn down first and the entire project is ex to ta least two years. we want to give you a look at what's it's like to drive on the eastern span. this is what it will look like when it all opens next week. caltrans came up with this animation of the bay bridge. it shows the view for drivers headed eastbound. drivers and passengers will have a pan. raic -- panoramic view from the open deck as they drive past the tower and into oakland. go to ktvu.com for everything you need to know about the bay bridge closure. we have a fact sheet and more on the animation and a map of detours. a 10:00 a.m. community meeting set for today about how the city of fairfield responded to the fire that burned five homes and damaged

ten more. some homeowners say the city is partly to blame for not removing the dry vegetation along 880 that ruled tuesday night's fire. homeowners say that grass had not been cut since last year and it was chest high. heard that. we're investigating that. >> whose responsibility is that. >> that what we're looking into. we don't have an answer. >> a team is being formed to help the homeowners rebuild. investigators are adding up the destruction from the fire including the damage to an at&t storage area. also happening today, some bay area fast-food workers are walking off the job. at least three protests are planned this morning in oak. it's part of a nationwide strike forming a union for fast- food working to raises pay to $15 an hour. the average fast-food worker

makes about -- about $8.68 an hour. >> mine is 8.28. i can't live on that. i have to debate if i'm gonna buy food or take the bus the next morning. >> well, the fast-food industry says raises the minimum wage would force them to raise prices and that could drive away customers and lead to layoffs. restaurants are striking employees are still expected to be open. waging a war on graffiti. mike logan says taggers left him unconscious after he confronted six men spraying cars in his san jose neighborhood in the middle of the night. the attack last month put logan in icu with damage to his spinal cord and brain swelling. they hurt me. they didn't beat me. they beat me. they didn't win. one arrest has been made in the assault. logan said he's hopeful that his attackers will be brute to justice. the chp has started a task

force with overnight patrols looking for taggers. the bay area bike share program launches today. 700 bicycles will be available for members. half of the bikes will be located in san francisco. the rest will be at kiosks in san jose, mountain view, palo alto and redwood city. memberships cost $88 and members can borrow a bike for a half-hour for no charge. cyclists will pay additional fees if they use the bikes longer. she's already good. she's one of the most accomplished 18-year-olds on the cal campus and starting today, the school welcomes its newest star. we're talking about four-time olympic gold medallallist missy franklin. she starts classes at uc berkeley. she's still a teenager but is already one of the world's top athletes. earlier this month, she won a record six events at the world swimming championships in spain. >> one of my favorite things about berkeley, probably the

most unique environment i've been in. there's nowhere else like it. it's so much fun. >> she expects to swim for cal for two years and then turn pro and get ready for the 2016 olympics in brazil. well, some bay area drivers had an uneasy feeling about this morning's commute. >> it is gonna be crazy. there will be people who have no idea what's going on. well, there were predictions of gridlock. a check of the areas you should avoid. the new tool for firefighters battling that massive fire in yosemite and how the see questions ter may be impact -- sequester may be impacting firefighters. good morning. reading my tweets here. you caught knee. but people have been doing all kinds of things trying to get across the bay bridge closure. one of the ideas, the san mateo bridge, you can see traffic coming off the span. pretty busy heading over to highway 101 and 92. and you can see all of the

cloud cover. coming up, i will let you know when the clouds will clear out and i will highlight the warmest day of the week.

all right. let's take a live look at the markets for you. everything in the green this morning. just released reports from the commerce and labor departments are considered good news for the economy but concerns over syria and the feds' bond buying program are tempering things a little bit. we'll keep an eye on it for you. tesla is up 3870% this year. -- 370% this year. that manes the electric carmaker is worth about -- means the electric carmaker is worth about half of what gm is

work. some analysts wonder if it's a car company or a tech company. the sharp growth is likened to apple or google. ford hired 1400 workers to start making the new fusion at the same plant that turns out mustangs. it will be able to produce 350,000 a year. that's 30% more than the old plant in mexico. fusion sales are up 13% so far this year. 7:46. we have continuing coverage of the rim fire. it is growing in size. but not nearly as fast as when it started. pam cook is in the studio now with an update and pam, its effect on national yosemite park. >> the big news, yosemite is open for the labor day weekend. the fire has burned now more than 192,000 acres in and around yosemite national park. it is now 30% contained but full containment is not expected for another three weeks. the good news, for people who

still want to go in, they have reservations for yosemite national park, you can get in for the weekend but you do have to use the entrances at tioga, highway 140 or highway 41. i oga road is closed along with the entrance at highway 120. the fire is even visible from space. take a look. these are photos taken from the international space station showing the massive amount of smoke blanketing the sierra nevadas. firefighters have a new tool for monitoring the fire. a national guard drone is providing realtime data on the spread of the flames. firefighter city images can immediately alert them to flareups that they might not have seen otherwise. drones can remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time. now, ground commanders usually have to rely on helicopters that need to refuel every two hours. the bad news is the rim fire is raising questions about how federal budget cuts are affecting the state's ability

to fight wildfires. the san francisco "chronic ql" reports that the sequester prevented the forest from hiring 500 firefighters and 50 new engines. budgets reduced the number of brush that firefighters were able to clear ahead of the fire season. resources expected to be spread pretty thin for some time as california is experiencing one of the driest years in history. claudine? >> well, the bay bridge is now shut down in both directions for this long holiday weekend. caltrans shut down the old 77- year-old eastern span right on schedule at 8:00 last night. the closure clears the way for put the finishing touches on the new $6.4 billion replacement. the goal is to have the eastern span ready to open no later than early tuesday morning. so far, that work is right on schedule. it's the end of air raw. check out that vintage -- era. check out the vintage automobile joined by a couple of caltrans vehicles and the

chp cars. those are the last vehicles to cross the toll plaza at 8:00 last night. some drivers said they felt nostalgic about their last trip. 7:48. it's the only resident of the bay bridge, talking about the bay bridge troll. a small iron fig ure, there it is, it's right under the upper deck, this was created to scare away evil spirits like natural disasters and earthquake. caltrans says when the crews start to take apart the old bridge, they will take down that sculpture welded to the deck, but its fate that's still not clear. some people want caltrans to put it on the new bridge or at least donate it to a museum. >> oh, yeah. caltrans shut down the bay bridge right on schedule. 8:00 sharp last night. as you can see, some people wanting to get across the bridge didn't get that message. the chp says it was chaos, there was confusion out there on both sides of the bay.

7:49. and we want to head right out to sal castanedo, who is watching the roads for us. sal, i understand there's some caltrain news as well that we're hearing. >> yeah. we just heard that southbound train number 210 struck a pedestrian in palo alto. we're trying to get a better location. but it was -- it has stopped all of the trains and we're gone try to find out a little bit more and confirm some more details. we do know caltrain itself has tweeted that there's a train accident that has stopped trains in both directions along the peninsula. in fact, major delays on the system right now. the other main story would be the bay bridge closure and the traffic is going to be affected, obviously, as people are trying to find a way around. you can see 80 westbound is slow from berkeley to the hard closure of the bay bridge. people are going around. a lot of people are using the richmond bridge. it's slow all the way across.

i want to show you on the maps, the busiest traffic is approaching the san mateo bridge from hayward. we've had some slow traffic getting through the area all the away across. it's moderate traffic by the time you get to foster city and san mateo. b.a.r.t. has no delays. major delays because of the train crash in palo alto. one of the trains struck a pedestrian and trains have come to a stop. no delays reported on muni. let's go to mark -- i always forget, mark. i want to look at 237 before we toss it to you. and 237 is moderately heavy. now we go to mark. we've been watching and tracking the fog. they kind of regrouped overnight. here's a look out toward san francisco. the tops of those buildings are covered with the low cloud deck. on the satellite showing up as well. reports of a little mist, at least the latest tweet up in rhoneert park up in sonoma

county. this is out towards glen ellen. a little bit of that cloud cover trying to break up along the central portions of the bay. current temperatures, not a big change. we're still talking about some upper 50s, a lot of 60s and fairfield, 61 degrees. also a bit of a breeze with winds easily topping 25 miles an hour. the overall weather pattern is this -- an area of low pressure camped out to the north and west. this is not really moving too much. but this area of high pressure moves in. it has been a warming sprend. no major -- trend. no major changes. we had the clouds clearing back to the coastline. 60s 70s and 80s. this high builds in for tomorrow. that will be the source for friday. tomorrow will be the warmest day of the week. here is our forecast model. we'll take it at 8:00 this morning. a few minutes from now showing you the cloud cover out there and then by 10:00 and then into the afternoon hours, the clouds clear back to near the coastline. more sunshine for the bay.

maybe some left over fog patches for the beaches. forecast highs, really not a big change from yesterday. we're kind of stuck in the weather pattern where we have minor temperature changes. santa rosa, 84. stinson beach, 66. some more neighborhoods around the rim of the bay. we're showing you 70s. you will find more 80s out towards concord and livermore. san jose, a forecast high. 8 -- a forecast high of 81. san francisco, upper 60s. we'll match the 69 from yesterday. here is a look ahead. tomorrow the warmest day of the week. we cool things off a little bit for labor day weekend. a sun cloud mix by sunday. partly cloudy skies on labor day. a lot of people will be riding b.a.r.t. while the bridge is closed down. how b.a.r.t. will accommodate all of those riders. a law texting down on texting and driving where you could get busted without getting behind the wheel. a7

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in new jersey you can get a ticket for texting from a moving car even if you are not driving. a new jersey state appeals court has ruled people can eventually be held responsible if they knowingly text someone who is driving and that person crashes. a lawyer specializing in distracted driving says that would probably require a special relationship like an employer and employee or a parent and a child. we have a followup to this story we first reported on yesterday's "mornings on 2." a proposal to ban the sale of soda at city-run venues in san jose has fizzled out. it would have outlawed the sale of sugary drinks at city parks, community centers and libraries but the idea was not warmly received yesterday. the city decided san jose has too many other priorities. and the deluxe version of

the console game has been cut by $50. basic bundles with smaller memory capacity and no games will noing -- will no longer be sold. nintendo is looking to increase sales as its two biggest rivals launch new devices for the holidays. the bay bridge closure is really disrupting holiday travel. how many people are still expected to get out on. road and how the big fire in yosemite could affect travel plans. >> reporter: we're live in oakland where bridge officials are getting ready to talk about the progress being made on the new span. we'll let you know how it goes -- coming up live. we have a caltrain problem and we have problems on the alternate routes now heading out to the high rise. it looks like the traffic on the san mateo bridge is very slow. in weather, more low clouds this morning looking out toward the baypoint area. coming up the warmest day of the week and the changes you

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impact on this morning's commute. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm dave clark. >> i'm claudine wong. tori campbell is off today. let's start off with a look at your weather and traffic. mark tamayo is in for steve paulson today. hi, mark. >> hi. a lot of cloud cover out to the bay area. even a few breaks in the clouds this morning. but the key this morning compared to yesterday morning, that cloud deck is more widespread. overcast out towards rohnert park. this cloud layer beginning to lift a little bit but still mostly cloudy skies and san jose reporting mostly cloudy conditions as well. current temperatures we'll get to those in a littleby. first, wind speeds not too much of a factor across most of the region accept out towards fairfield, winds out of of the southwest sustained at 23 miles an hour. current temperatures are in the upper 50s. basically we're talking about 60s now. we've warmed up a little bit.

santa rosa, 61 degrees. we're heading towards the 60s, 70s and 80s. warmest locations could approachle 90-degree mark. low clouds and drizzle out there. patchy fog out there. right around the bay, basically the same deal and then we'll strip away the clouds. inland neighborhoods, patchy overcast this morning. a lot of sunshine. a nice recovery. 85 to 90 degrees later on today. forecast highs not a big change from yesterday. could be a little bit cooler in a few spots. san jose, 81. san rafael, 83 and oakland, 76. coming up we'll take a look at the forecast, we'll take a look at the holiday weekend but we'll send it back to the desk with our continuing ciferg of the bay bridge closure. topping our news, the long- awaited transition to the new bay bridge. the old span now shut down in both directions for the long holiday weekend. they intend to have the new

eastern span ready to open no latter than tuesday morning. we have team coverage for you. tara moriarty is standing by watching the first phase of this giant project. christien kafton is showing us how b.a.r.t. is helping you get across the bay. sal, this is a busy commute. you've been busy all morning. >> it sure has been busy all morning, dave. i've been, too. we do have a look at some of the busy commutes. people now getting on the road, more people on the richmond bridge but when you drive through marin, the golden gate bige traffic is doing pretty well. as we move down the san mateo bridge has been the busiest commute of all heading down to it from hayward and then driving all the way across to foster city. we have slow traffic there as you drive through. it's been very slow. as you are driving to the san mateo bridge traffic is going to be busy as well from all of the other roads. b.a.r.t. has no delays and neither does muni. we have major delays on caltrain because of a train

that hit a pedestrian in palo alto. we'll have more on that coming up. the east shore freeway westbound, traffic is moving well. san mateo bridge traffic is busy heading out to the high rise. boy, that's very, very slow. so you can see for yourself. this is the east shore freeway. this traffic is moving along slowly from the richmond area all the way down to berkeley. now, then, the -- the bridge officials are just -- are about to have a press conference in oakland to update the progress on what's going on with the bridge closure. let's go to ktvu's tara moriarty who is live on the scene. tara? >> reporter: we're here at the caltrans headquarters for construction. any moment now, they are gonna get this news conference underway. we're expecting to hear if things are on schedule, if everything is moving along. you can see all of the cameras set up here, getting ready for andrew gordon with caltrans to talk. as we've been saying all morning, crews are working around the clock. at peak times, there will be as

many as 400 workers on site. they are in the process of churning up 1.2 million square feet of roadway from the macarthur maze to the mu bridge -- to the new bridge. caltrans shut down the old bridge last night to begin the first phase of this construction. next crew also demolish about 1,000 feet of old bridge to make room for the new bike path. they will be connecting the span to yerba buena and the toll plaza with new barriers, paving and striping. they will be inspecting the western span. now, the new span should be open up at 5:00 tuesday morning. right now, we see that andrew gordon has taken the podium right now. so we're gonna sort of dip in and listen to what he has to say about how things are moving along here.

okay. it appears that we don't have any audio of this press conference going on right now. so we are going to send it back to you and hopefully we'll get our technical difficulties sorted out and we'll be able to bring you some updates here. live from oakland, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. we should now move onto b.a.r.t. because b.a.r.t. is offering extended service during the closure. let's go to christien kafton who is live at the embarcadero station in san francisco where he's been talking to commuters this morning. >> reporter: it's been a very busy day, as you might imagine. we're at the embarcadero station in san francisco. you can see it looks like there's not a lot of activity. but boy, you missed it about 45 seconds ago. there was a very large crowd of people here. the station has been very active. a lot of trains pulling into the station and dumping their passengers. and if you think the station was busy earlier, you should

have seen the trains earlier. i want to show you video that we have a little bit from earlier this morning. we rode two times this morning, twice from walnut creek here to the embarcadero station in san francisco, the first time at 5:30. it was standing-room only. but by 7:00, the trains were packed. b.a.r.t. is running 24 hours through monday, then on monday, it has a saturday service and on tuesday, there's no service from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., tuesday the date that the bridge is scheduled to reeven. we talked with -- reopen. we talked to commuters and b.a.r.t.riders and occasion tal riders and they say -- >> it's not as crowd tsdz as usual -- crowded as usually. better chance of getting a seat today. >> i knew i couldn't drive into the city because of the bridge closing so i took b.a.r.t. >> reporter: those trains were

very full. if we can baum back to our live shot, you can see how many people are getting off the trains here. the big issue with all of these passengers is, of course, parking. when we left the walnut creek b.a.r.t. station this morning, the lots were about two-thirds full. that was at about 6:50. the full trainses this morning, though, might -- trains this morning, mighting the beginning. we've talked to a lot of commuters who say if things are this busy this morning, they are already dreading the evening commute back to the east bay. we're live at the embarcadero station in san francisco, christien kafton, ktvu channel 2 news. well, ferry riders did also line up early this morning to get a ride to work and coming up at 8:30 we'll tell you what riders say they learned from the mad scam bell during the b.a.r.t. strike -- scramble during the b.a.r.t. strike. and you can see people lined up there to get a bit. when you combine the -- boat. when you combine the bay bridge closure and the rim fire, labor day weekend will be

anything but normal. a lot of travelers are canceling plans there because of all of the smoke and fire from the rim fire and because of traffic. still, aaa says a lot of californians will be hitting the road for labor day. an estimated 3.9 million in california will travel 50 miles or more this weekend. that's up 6% over last year. and make sure you just stop by and see ktvu.com for everything you need to know about the bay bridge closure. we've posted a map of detours, animation of the new span and then there's a fact show for you about the closure. go to ktvu.com. we have new information about the power outages we told but an howrg ago. pg&e shays a planned outage has left 940 customers without electricity. it should all be restored by 9:00 a.m. nearly 1100 people in pittsburg lost power after a car there hit a utility pole at 4:00 this morning. service has been restored to

all but 64 customers. today, at uc berkeley students start the day, they are being warned about a 20- year-old student who was robbed near the unit 2 housing complex on hey street. police say someone grabbed her from behind and stole her phone as she was walking. police only have a vague description of the suspect, described as african-american or latino. thin build with a short mustache. we have an update about a surf school instructor from santa cruz childed with po tessing child pornography -- possessing child pornography for taking pictures of young girls at the sea horse. that pool uses the -- that school uses the pool at san jose. he's charged with 11 counts in this case.

and prosecutors have linked another murder convicted murderer joseph naso. he was found guilty last week. court records show investigators have connected him to the murder of a 56-year- old woman share -- share raw lee paton. prosecutors now hope to include her murder as evidence that naso should get the death penalty. at 8:09. we're going to go back to the news conference underway. dan hill is giving us an update on what's happening on the brick. ons bridge. let's listen -- on the bridge. let's listen in. any other questions? again, we want to thank the motoring public and the media. make sure you remain patient throughout the closure and we'll be here to help. >> one more speaker. i would like to introduce jim allison from b.a.r.t. >> good morning. i would just like to echo the chp officer's call for

patients. we are seeing a lot of people at b.a.r.t. this morning we're seeing lines back up at the ticket lines, the ticket machines rather. so for people who are regular users of b.a.r.t. who have clipper cards. i would encourage them to make sure they have plenty of value on those cards so they don't get caught in a line. i have ridership figures for you. yesterday, the preliminary figures show that we had an increase of about 16,000 people compared to the previous wednesday. so it appears that people were already switching to transit and through 6:00 a.m. this morning, we have seen an increase of about 7,800 people. that doesn't sound real significant but, you know, the real crunch period will be from 8:00 to 9, 9:30 and then this evening from 5:00, 5:30, and then through 6:00.

we're encouraging people to travel early if they can through the rush hour. the overnight service went very well from the 14 stations we had open. the two lines running with the trains running on an hourly basis. >> any extra security on the b.a.r.t. trains because now you now have people who might not have people riding who now are. and some might think that's an opportunity. >> we have police at the stations, obviously, making sure everyone is safe there. we have additional station agents at the stations open overnight. and so, you know, it went fell last night. we're hoping it goes well through the weekend as well. >> you've been listening in live to the bay bridge news conference now underway. giving us an update on how many people are turning to alternate modes of transportation. we'll have more on that coming up on "mornings on 2."

a busy morning. there's a new controversy with the america's cup yacht race. the major contract dispute that's now sailing into court. what the white house is doing to trite to -- try to get congress on board for the need for a military strike against syria. we have trouble on the commute. we have a lot of slow traffic on the san mateo bridge heading out to san mateo and foster city because of the bay bridge closure. a big blanket of clouds over the bay area. coming up we'll break down the timing to the coastline. we'll highlight the warmest day of the week.

we do have slow traffic almost everywhere you look here on the east shore freeway as people come down to the hard closure of the bay bridge. the bottleneck is backing traffic up all the way into the richmond area. we also do have slow traffic this morning as you approach the san mateo bridge and approach the richmond bridge. 8:16. let's go back to the desk. in just hours, senior obama administration officials will brief some members of congress on the intelligence they have regarding the reported chemical weapons attack in syria. as ktvu's kyla campbell reports from our washington, d.c. newsroom this morning, many on capitol hill want the president to get their authorization before ordering a military strike. kyla? >> reporter: claudine, more than 100 members of congress including bay area

congresswoman laughlin and eschew signed this letter -- congress is on recess until september 9th bull they say they are willing to reconvene to debate and decide to handle -- how to handle this conflict in sirah. david cameron has called back his lawmakers from summer recess. they are debating. cameron says this is necessary and the u.s. is considering military strikes including missiles that would target the syrian military. president obama says he has no doubt syrian's president regime is behind a chemical attack that killed hundreds of people, including women and children and this violates international law. >> you are creating a situation where u.s. national interests are affected and that needs to stop. >> senior white house officials started to brief some congressional leaders this morning. lawmakers will be briefed over the phone throughout the day. there's even a meeting tonight at the white house for u.s. lawmakers to debate and discuss

syria. live in washington, kyla campbell, ktvu channel 2 news. [chanting] >> in london, hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration outside the prime minister's residence against military intervention. many say they do not want a repeat of the invasion of iraq which is based on evidence of weapons of mass destruction that later turned out to be false. in san francisco today there will be a demonstration against u.s. military action in syria. it's scheduled for 5:00 tonight. that demonstration being organized by a coalition of anti-war groups. 8:18. cyber warfare may be in a new and more dangerous phase now. experts say the syrian electronic army's attack on the new york times and on twitter could be the first round in tougher battles. that attack on the domain el name registrar that's -- domain

name registrar, this could mean the s.e.c. is able to get through security designed is to protect the power grid and other critical systems. says. 8:18. sal, when do you leave if you are leaving later? what time should they try to get home from work today? you have to have all of the answers. >> i would say if you trying to make the commute, 10:00 should be now -- between now and 10. it will eventually by down. i already forgot the next question. we'll try to work on that. >> right now we have a lot on our plate right now when it comes to the alternate routes. as a matter of fact, right now, traffic getting up to the richmond bridge has become a lot busier in the last few minutes getting up to the richmond bridge and on 80. as a matter of fact, traffic has become a lot busier on the san mateo bridge as well. but it has been busy here for

the last hour and a half or so. that's no surprise as you drive across and get over to the peninsula. i want to mention we have traffic on 101 that's okay driving up through burlingame. we have a look at the traffic coming in off the san mateo bridge and you can see it's very slow. this is our crew posted up here in foster city and you can see how slow it is. it's very slow coming down to san mateo. all the way over to highway 101. it's not stop and go. but it definitely is very crowded. if you are a regular san mateo bridge driver, obviously you are noticing a big difference 2003. i want to go back to the maps if i can. i want to mention, we have a deadly caltrain accident in palo alto. service is stopped at the corner of alma and charleston road, where we had a train hit a pedestrian. it's been a fatal crash and now service is stopped on caltrain. so caltrain is going to be feeling very slow going to be big delays on caltrain. b.a.r.t. and muni are not doing well.

at 8:20. let's go to 280. this is a look at 280 in san jose. it's not bad. as a matter of fact, the south bay commute has been rather nice. let's go to mark tamayo. >> at least the weather this morning has -- for the most part has been cooperating. here is a look at the old and here is the new. you can see the low clouds and fog. still a lot of overcast over a good portion of the region. today, a little bit cooler than yesterday. but these are probably some very tiny changes, you probably won't notice. this morning, morning clouds clearing back to the coast. the weekend, a sun/cloud mix. we're tranding down -- trending down saturday and sunday and into your labor day. as we zoom in closer to santa rosa out to rohnert park and reports of mist there. about an hour ago. and still some more overcast right around the -- right around the bay itself out towards san francisco and oakland. even out towards san jose,

mostly sunny skies. you get the idea, a lot of cloud cover to start out on thursday morning. current temperatures are in the 60s out there. we have warmed up a little bit over the past hour. san jose, 65 and concord. 63 degrees at last check. forecast for today, we'll break it down beginning at 9:00 this morning. low clouds by 12:00, partly sunny and then we'll warm things back up inland. there's the temperature range from the low 60s, 70s and 80s. warmest locations around 90 degrees. this area of low pressure is camped up here to the north and to the west. high pressure has been building in a little bit. that's why we have been warming up by a few degrees no big changes for today. but as this high builds in for friday. those 80s we're talking about for thursday afternoon will turn into lower 90s for yours friday -- for friday. fog is still a factor for today, tomorrow and possibly into the weekend for lake tahoe. lows will be dropping back down in the 40s. here is our forecast model this morning. showing you the overcast out

there and then into the afternoon hours, clearing back to near the coastline. revealing are partly to mostly cloudy skies. still some left over fog patches. temperatures today, cooler compared to yesterday. santa rosa, 84. fairfield, 88. oakland, 76. you will find a few 90s out towards brentwood. san jose, 81. santa clara 81. becoming partly sunny this afternoon, a forecast high of 69. a look ahead to your five-day forecast -- tomorrow will be the warmest day of the week, that means the low 90s inland. we begin to cool things off on saturday. a sun/cloud mix on sunday and then on labor day, partly sunny skies. details of transit options you have on this first day of the bridge closure. it's the last thing you want to see floating around in your water. how little worms are causing big problems in one town. [ female announcer ] safeway presents real big deals of the week.

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well r, the water is back on in one oklahoma town days after the town's water was turned off when tiny red worms were found in the drinking water. it happened in oklahoma, about 80 miles east of tulsa. residents had to be given bottled water while the water tower was drained and then cleaned.

they are still trying to figure out how the worms got in there. a hearing continues into san francisco? what could be one of the biggest scandals of the america's cut yacht. they are defending oracle team, accused of illegally modifying two boats during warmup regattas. the jury has several options if it decides to punish the oracle team including kicking it out of the america's cup. but sailing experts say that is highly unlikely. you can add a multi-million dollar contract dispute to all of the headaches. a former merchandising partner for the sailing event is in the middle of a legal battle with america's cup organizers. the company is going to court claiming race organizers violated a signed contract involving merchandising rights. it's seeking 4.2 million in damages. 8:27. fast-forward workers going on strike. what they are demanding and how

their bosses are responding. we're live in alameda where the bay ferries have been running smoothly all morning. we'll tell you how riders think this is the way to travel and commute this holiday weekend. good morning. right now we have very, busy traffic around the closure. people are using alternate routes. and this one, the san mateo bridge is very busy. we have been talking a lot about the low clouds and fog this morning. here's our camera of the south bay. mostly cloudy skies here. coming up, the warmest day of the week and the changes you can expect in the upcoming holiday weekend. úo úo

it's shut down, the bay bridge is closed as the old bridge is making way for the new one. this is having a big impact on this morning's commute. we'll tell you all about it. welcome back. i'm dave clark. i'm claudine wong. all right start off with a quick look at your weather and traffic to see if it's already impacting the complicated commute in horn -- this morning. the weather is helping us out. no major rainfall. still out to the delta, we still have some overcast but it's not a major obstacle out there current temperatures are in the low to mid-60s. hayward, 62. concord, 63 degrees. i was talking about the wind speeds. look at fairfield, this has been the one constant. winds out of the southwest at 25 miles an hour. sfo, you can see winds are calm. 3 to 6 miles an hour from san jose to livermore.

san francisco forecast for today, beginning this morning at 9:00. by lunchtime, 67 on track to reach an afternoon high of 69 degrees by 4:00 this afternoon. here we go with the forecast if you are headed to the beaches for today, low clouds and drizzle, still some leftover patchy fog this afternoon. right around the bay, some overcast and then we'll strip away the clouds into the afternoon hours. mostly sunny skies. inland neighborhoods. patchy overcast in the short term and then we warm back up nicely. 85 to 90. temperatures this afternoon, just a little bit compared to yesterday. but these are all some tiny changes. pacifica, 64 degrees. fremont, 79. concord, 86 and livermore, 88 degrees. we'll have more with our five- day forecast. your labor day weekend forecast as well. right now back to the desk on the bay bridge closure. now we continue our team coverage of this transition to the new bay bridge. the old span, the one that was built in the 1930s, shut down

in both directions. the chp says so far, the construction work on the new eastern span it's right on schedule. we have team coverage for you this morning. janine de la vega is standing by. she's at the san mateo bridge. we have brian flores. he's gonna tell us how the ferries are helping commuters get across the bay. let's first go to sal get a look at how the commute is holding up. >> up. >> all right. i do want to mention that our commute in general has been very slow. now we have a problem on caltrain with a deadly crash, service has been stopped. this happened at 7:35 this morning where southbound train number 210 struck and killed a pedestrian. alma at charleston in palo alto. crews are on the scene ahong with investigators. i was just reading some information from christine dunn who is a public information officer. she's telling the media -- she's telling everyone that major delays on caltrain this morning and that's too bad because a lot of people are

taking caltrain to avoid the roads. more people are on the roads. almost everywhere in the bay area. some of the roads are more crowded because of the bay bridge closure. some of the other roads are taking up the slack. let's go to the east bay. want to show you a picture of highway 24. this looks pretty good from walnut creek up to orinda and through the tunnel. it has not been that bad. i think a lot of people are taking the b.a.r.t. system we'll have a report on that coming up. i want to mention the san mateo bridge has been pretty slow. janine and i were talking about it off the air. it's very slow on 880. it's very slow on highway 92. it's slow where janine was standing. let's go to janine right now. she's on the foster city side of the bridge. you've seen a lot of slow traffic coming your way, haven't you? >> definitely. as you can see, it is very slow going. very busy here on the san mateo bridge as cars come down here on the decline and head to the 101 connector to come into the

peninsula. and then to connect into the city on 101. again, traffic heavier on the bridge westbound compared to the eastbound lanes. i'm told that it's about ten miles an hour if you are coming from hayward here to the san mateo county side. this bridge has been the busiest in the bay with the bay bridge close. i now want to go to the camera at the toll plaza. you can see the live picture is showing a big backup there obviously busier than normal. if you are not used to taking the bridge and you are paying cash, make sure you stay on the right-hand side. those of you who have fast track, you know to stay to the left. the california highway patrol is busy on 880, the routes leading up to the bridge. officers are out patrolling on the bridges. they are looking for violaters. >> we're keeping an eye out for

people with cell phones. people might get complacent and we've already had some accidents. >> reporter: these are cars heading westbound on 92. most likely headed to connect to 101 to get up to the city. the good news is, is that i don't see any brake lights here while it's moving slow, at least it's not at a standstill, as sal would say, it's not stop and go. we're calling it slow and go. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. many drivers are also choosing to commute by ferry. ktvu channel 2 reporter brian flores is live for us in alameda with what's been a very busy morning for the ferry system. brian, how does it look right there right now? >> reporter: well, it's looking pretty good. a lot of people taking it easy. not standing in line. in fact, sitting down at the benches because the lines are moving quickly here on the ferry system. not to say that we haven't seen

long lines. it's nothing compared to what we saw during the b.a.r.t. strike. the only thing i would really say, the parking, officials say most of the lots are close to being full or are full already. some commuters park their car on a dirt lot. i just got off the phone, got another update with ernest sanchez. he says things have been running smoothly. as of 8:00 they've had 21 departures from the terminals. a 6:30 ferry boat marked out at 330 passengers. about ten passengers were left behind to catch the next ferry that left at 7:00 this morning. the san francisco bay ferry says they will be running 11 boats taking commuters to san francisco and vice versa. on a normal service there would be eight boats. some say they are looking forward to the bridge finally being done. >> i want it to be done.

>> two of my bosses are out of the office. i'm gonna take advantage as well. >> reporter: we heard that from a lot of commuters from the ferry terminal saying there are gonna take tomorrow off. if you have to go to work tomorrow, larkspur ferry is adding more ferries with another late night ferry and sausalito ferry will have added service on saturday, sunday and mon because of the sausalito art festival. looking forward to the weekend, san francisco bay ferry says they will be adding six boats. normally there would be three that would be running. we're live in alameda, brian flores, ktvu channel 2 news. >> okay. 8:38. for some of the toll takers, the bridge closure means they won't get paid. ktvu was there several of the toll collect toors clocked in for their evening shift. those not assigned to other work or who don't take paid leave, they won't be paid during the bridge closure. the toll authority says the new

span will be coming with upgrades to the toll taking system. however, they say there are no current plans to create an all- electronic toll system just like the one used on the golden gate bridge. and just go to ktvu.com. you will get everything you need to know about the closure. we have a fact sheet there. more on the animation and a map of the detours. happening today -- some bay area fast-food workers are walking off the job. there are at least three protests planned for this morning in oakland. it's part of a nationwide strike to norm a union for -- to form a union for fast- forward workers to raise the minimum wage to $15. the average workers makes about 8.68 an hour and many work part time. >> i love my job. i love working here. i love the customers. i love the people i work with. but it's unjustified what these corporations are doing to us. >> the fast-food industry says raising the minimum wage to force them to raise prices

which could drive away customers and result in layoffs. restaurants are striking employees are still expected to be open today. dozens of artists are scheduled to perform this weekend, including en vogue. thousands are expected to attend. there will be street closures in the area for the festival. it runs from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 8:40. federal budget cuts are taking a toll on headstart programs here in the bay area and all over the country. the obama administration says more than 57,000 kids will be cut from headstart this fall because of those sequester cuts. now, the program for preschool children from low-income families saw the budget cut more than 5% after congress did not reach a budget agreement with the white house.

>> these are the neediest families in the community. many of the families are homeless. many of the children are foster children. >> advocates say head start helps to prepare close to a million children for kindergarten along with a range of services including daycare, access to social workers and help for children who have disinters -- disabilities. >> on our website we have a special back-to-school section for you. that's where you can look up school starting dates, school photos of reporters and anchors of ktvu and also you can get tips for school savings. well, a massive wildfire does continue to threaten yosemite national park. the message park officials have for labor day travelers. >> reporter: we're live near the bay bridge. we've just received an update from caltrans about how things are going if they are on schedule. we also have some new b.a.r.t. numbers. some figures to let you know about -- coming up. well, you thought 680 was a safe bet.

so far from the bridge, but not really. southbound 680 traffic is slow. we'll tell you some of the routes that are getting crowded now as the morning wears on. in weather, the low clouds blanketing a good portion of the bay area. we'll update the forecast coming up after the break. too big.

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all right. there's a live look at the big board for you this morning. things are looking good. verizon communications has seen the biggest gains in the dow and s&p 500. the news comes after they were in talks to sell 45% of verizon wireless. continuing our coverage of the closure of the bay bridge. so far the construction work on the new eastern span is right on schedule. ktvu's tara moriarty joins us now. and you've got new information. >> reporter: well, according to the folks that had the press conference, they say that everything is right on track. we kept here -- thering that. it looks like things are going well. about 90% of the work is on on the -- done on the east side of the bay bridge which will make room for the temporary bike

path. officials are pretty excited about how far things have come along. caltrans, b.a.r.t. and bridge officials praise the public for heeding washing. at peak times there -- warning. at peak times there will be as many as 400 workers in side. they are in the progress of turning up roadway from the macarthur maze to the new bridge. the work has gone very well. we're definitely on schedule. the work taking place at the tunnel has gone well. the roadwork that they've been doing in terms of the lower deck. there are about 100% completed with the prep of the lower deck of the yerba buena transidentification structure. about 60% of the roadway prep on the upper deck. b.a.r.t. says the number of people riding b.a.r.t. as of 6:00 this morning jumped by 7200 people. that doesn't seem like a lot but there's a good reason. many made the switch from mass transit over the past week. those figures spiked by 16,000 passengers. the real commute crunch time is from 8:30 -- from 8:00 to 9:30

this morning and then again from 5:00 to 6:00. caltrans shut down the old bridge 8:00 last night and the plan is for the new span to be oip by 5:00 on tuesday -- open by 5:00 on tuesday morning. right now we're gonna check in with sal castanedo to see how some of the other bridges are doing. according to the chp we've seen an increase in traffic along the spans. >> reporter: yes, we have. we've seen more traffic on the richmond bridge, on the golden gate but i would say the san mateo bridge really has replaced the bay bridge as the work horse bridge of the bay area. it's cheaper. if you take the richmond bridge, you have to take a toll there and then -- pay a toll there and then on the golden gate bridge to get into san francisco. a variety of factors have made it slow across the span. on the east shore freeway, westbound 80. the traffic is slow as you might imagine heading down to the closure as the traffic nunles down to the -- funnels

down to the maze. the bay bridge toll plaza won't be available for the next five days. 680 southbound. that's been very slow this morning coming through the walnut creek interchange. southbound 680 is backed up from the north bay. let's go to mark tamayo. good morning. still tracking a lot of low clouds and fog. we have's been talking a lot about that since 4:30 this morning, a big blanket of overcast, that will be part of our forecast for today. clearing back to near the coastline tomorrow a little bit warmer and then the weekend, a sun/cloud mix, temperatures trending down for the holiday weekend. as far as the latest on our mapping system, the cloud coverage beginning to back off a little bit. there's been a recent change. still some overcast up towards santa rosa, up towards sonoma county. still scattered around the bay, up to the san mateo bridge. here is a closer ntion near 92 around foster city and also

showing you this down toward the south bay. partly to mostly cloudy skies. san jose right now, 65 degrees. concord, 63 and napa 62. forecast for today, at 9:00 this morning, still a lot of overcast out there to start out our morning hours. by 12:00 partly sunny, patchy fog. a big temperature range from the low 60s to around the 90- degree mark this area of low pressure is out to the north and to the west and generates some rainfall up to the north and up toward eureka around crescent city. we have the clouds pulling back. mild to warm. 60s, 70s and 80s. this high builds in for tomorrow. that means warmer temperatures will be the warmest day of the week. areas of smoke that will be the problem up towards lake tahoe for today, tomorrow and into the weekend for saturday, sunday and possibly into labor day. temperatures will be in the 70s to right around 80 degrees. our forecast models showing you some of the overcast clearing

back to the coastline, more sunshine inland and temperatures this afternoon, they are trending a little bit down, just a little bit cooler than yesterday. forecast highs, you can see sonoma at 784. fairfield, 88 -- 84. fairfield, 88. walnut creek, 87. castro valley, around 80. some more neighborhoods with you, morken hill at 86. cupertino, lower 80s in san francisco. clouds this morning left over patches into the afternoon hours. here a look ahead, we'll have that coming up for you in a few minute, but we'll we'll tell you tomorrow a little bit warmer. we now have continuing coverage of the rim fire. containment is still weeks away. as pam cook tells us there's good news. >> yes. the good news, yosemite national park is open for the labor day weekend. park officials say the rim fire has evenly burned about 5% of the more than 760,000 acres

inside the park. the fire has burned a total of more than 192,000 acres. but the rate at which it's burning has slowed down considerably. its now about 30% contained. full containment not expected for another two weeks. now if you are headed to yosemite, though, you have to use the entrances at tioga pass, highway 140 or highway 41. tioga road is closed along with the entrance at highway 120. now, the fire is so big, it's actually visible from space. these are photos taken from the intersmarbl space station. they show the massive amount of smoke blanketing the sierra and nevada. so be aware of that. firefighters have a new tool for monitoring the fire. a national guard drone is providing realtime photos and information on the spread of the flames. firefighters say the images can immediately alert them to flareups. they might not have seen otherwise. drones can remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a

time. ground commanders usually have to rely on helicopters that need to refuel every two hours. unfortunately, the rim fire is raising questions about how federal budget cuts are affecting the state's ability to fight the bifers. the -- wildfires. the san francisco chronicle reports that the sequester prevented the forest service from hiring 500 firefighters and at least 50 new engines they needed. budget cuts reduced the amount of brush that firefighters were able to clear ahead of the fire season. now, calfire says this morning that cooler weather is definitely helping them contain the fire. firefighters are worried about the months ahead as california markets one -- marks one of the driest years in history. 8:52. the family of a sacramento area girl who died from a severe peanut allergy is promoting allergy education to prevent other deaths. 13-year-old natalie dorgiy died after biting into a snack last

month. her family has established a foundation to promote public awareness and research of food allergies. one of the first events will be a fund-raising walk held on september 15th. a former employee of the center to the arts in walnut creek has pled guilty to child sex abuse charges. 27-year-old jason pedrosa is accused of sexually assaulting two underaged girls last year. he was a part-time city employee works as an assistant for the children's theater company. the investigation found other workers acted appropriately and were allowed to return to work. he's expected to be sentenced toth 0 and could face more charges connected to a case in san mateo county. we've had team coverage for you of the bay bridge closure since 4:30. sal is coming back. one final look at the bridge shut down and our morning commute.

welcome back. it was ate years ago -- eight years ago today, that hurricane katrina devastated new orleans. 1800 people were killed in that storm. more than 100 billion in damage was caused. that 9th ward in new orleans was one of the heardest hit areas -- hardest hit areas. today a documentary about hurricane katrina will be screened in the 9th ward marking that anniversary. we want to go right back

out to sal for a last check of the roads and they are still very busy. >> yes, they are. i'm sorry. i was looking at my information here. so i'm looking at my computers. but let me show you what i was seeing. let's take a look at some of the live pictures. you can see the traffic is still very slow. obviously, come through the closure, three lanes are closed down to the macarthur maze not letting you get onto the bay bridge. that's why it's going to be extra slow on the east shore. san mateo bridge people have been asking can i take it? it's very slow. it will be a slower drive but it's not completely backed up. when up get over to the foster city side, it does get better. we have a deadly crash. one train goes north and then another train goes south. that sort of thing. expect major delays on caltrain this morning because of that crash in palo alto. 8:57. let's go to mark. with the weather we have been talking about, the big cloud layer over a good portion

of the bay. clouds pull back to the coastline. warmest locations to the mid- to upper 80s. tomorrow the warmest day of the week with earlier clearing times and just in time for the holiday weekend, we cool things off, saturday, sunday, and monday for labor dey. temperatures pleasant. only 80s inland. >> thank you, mark. that's our report for this morning. we thank you for making ktvu your choice for news. be sure to watch the news at noon for more on that westbound shut -- on that bay bridge shutdown. we're always here for you at ktvu.com. thank you for joining us.

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